Comments on: Concert Review: This Land is Your Land — Woody Guthrie at 100

By: George Jones Laid to Rest; Woody Guthrie at 100 to Air on PBS in June; Jason Aldean to Co-Host CMT Awards - Engine 145

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:52:03 +0000

[...] be released June 11 on Legacy Recordings. (via press releases) Read our review of the concert here. Juli Thanki is the editor of Engine 145 and a freelance writer whose work has appeared in [...]

By: bll

bll — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:29:36 +0000

Sadly Arlo lost his wife of 45 years the morning of the event. I personally loved the Weavers version of ‘This Land’ and it was one of the first records I bought for myself.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:53:47 +0000

“This Land Is Your Land” was a big favorite during the Hootenanny era. While not every folk act recorded the song (many did) virtually every folk act knew the song and performed it live. I must have seen everyone from the New Christie Minstrals to Johnny Cash perform the song at one time or another.

By: luckyoldsun

luckyoldsun — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:33:07 +0000

Well, they’re honoring Woody Guthrie in Okemah, Oklahomoa now. They finally figured, Why not join in on the fun–or get a piece of the action, I guess!

By: Arlene

Arlene — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 01:44:39 +0000

Rick- The first time I ever heard “This Land is Your Land” was in 1962 when it was being taught to my first grade class by my elementary school music teacher, Mr. Davies, who had to play the piano with one hand because he’d lost the use of his left arm as a result of being wounded at Guadalcanal during World War II. Like my father, who received a battlefield commission during the Battle of the Bulge, Mr. Davies never talked about his war experiences. How odd you must find it that both of these patriots enjoyed the music of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

I still think one of my favorite concert experiences was attending Merlefest in 2006 and hearing the “Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway” tribute to Woody Guthrie with, among others, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson, Shawn Camp, David Bromberg, Jimmy LaFave, Eliza Gilkyson, Slaid Cleaves, and Woody’s granddaughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie with her husband, Johnny Irion. Near the end, Pete Seeger came out to sing a medley of Woody Guthrie’s children’s songs and he was holding in his arms an infant– Woody Guthrie’s great granddaughter, the grandchild of Arlo, and daughter of Sarah Lee. Songs being passed from generation to generation– isn’t that a goal of most great songwriters?

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:24:50 +0000

I don’t know one more thing of any value after reading Rick’s post than I did before.

By: Barry Mazor

Barry Mazor — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:05:40 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me how the diligent can flush out the politics of a guy like Woody Guthrie. A man of the left? Who knew.. And when it’s the Maddox Brothers and Rose singing his song–who knows?

By: TX Music Jim

TX Music Jim — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 22:58:57 +0000

Woddy was a heckuv a songwriter. so is Steve Earle and a bunch of artists who are far to the left of me politicaly. I apreciate the art for the arts sake. Yeah I know at a deal like this it’s going to have some political overtones that are going to not be my thing but to get to be a part of the music, it would be worth it. For me at least.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:03:54 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me how leftists excel at creating cults of personality around their favorite activist icons. This type of music truly inspires those who lean left politically but gives conservatives like me the heebeejeebies!

Given a choice, rather than attending this Woody Worship Service I think I would prefer a concert honoring Jack Guthrie’s music, or maybe a Romney rally…